When I first realized that time travel was turning out to be a plot device in Cursed Child, I was genuinely confused. Jo had been very vocal about the fact that she'd made a mistake in creating Time-Turners because they were too powerful. That's why she chose to destroy all of them in Order of the Phoenix. Well done. I can respect that. But, if they were such a thorn in her side (hahahaaa Thorne in her side), why would she approve the plot of the 8th story when it's based entirely on the use of Time-Turners? Are we wrong here? Isn't this peculiar?

Oh, it's stranger than you would expect.

Time Travel according to J.K. Rowling (pre-Cursed Child)

Harry and Hermione are sent into the past during the conclusion of Prisoner of Azkaban in order to rescue both Sirius Black and Buckbeak. Harry is especially interested in going back. He's certain that his deceased father had saved him from the Dementor attack because the Patronus was a stag. He soon discovered that it was actually him who had successfully cast the Patronus Charm.

This is the most significant factor in our understanding of how time travel works in the wizarding world.

The fact that the present/future version of Harry saved the past version of Harry from the Dementors proves that both of them existed in the same timeline and that, while their actions affected one another, they were incapable of changing anything. It's confusing, I know. The best way to explain it is that, in the fictitious wizarding world, time travel is self-fulfilling. Self-consistent. Circular.

Buckbeak never actually died because Harry and Hermione were ALWAYS in the past saving the Hippogriff from Macnair, the executioner.

According to the original source books (OS-Canon), your actions while time traveling lead to a causality that simultaneously fulfills both the present and the future. In other words, everything you do while time traveling to the past brings about the events of YOUR present. It is unchangeable. The history of the past ALWAYS included present you and what you did while you were back there... even with the full knowledge of the past influencing your actions. Mind-blowing, right?

I've spent years on theorizing this causality for a different book of mine (that I should be publishing on Wattpad soon - yes, it's a (wait for it) romance), so it doesn't take a lot for me to see this form of time travel and accept it straight away. But I can understand how the concept can be a struggle to wrap your head around. This is made significantly more difficult when you read Cursed Child because JKR and Co. promptly abandoned the established rules of magical time travel altogether.

Time Travel according to J.K. Rowling (post-Cursed Child)

Time-Turners now work differently. Where events of the books used to follow a single timeline, and visiting the past would not alter the future, the events of Cursed Child do the complete opposite. Their actions are no longer fulfilling the existing future. They now have the power to change whatever they'd like. This means entirely different events take place in the life of Harry Potter and the rest of the gang the very instant Albus and Scorpius travel into the past - OVERWRITING BOOKS 4-7.

This is absolutely bananas. Why in the world would an author help to create something new that completely tramples over storylines that everyone already loves? It's as if she secretly hates her books!

On the first go, the effects of Albus and Scorpius going back in time are minor and laugh-out-loud-able. On the second go, everything is completely changed, and to epic levels of eye-rolling ridiculousness.

What else? Time travel can not only change the future but now you can go back years. Well, only five minutes at a time. And be careful! Apparently, it also uhm... hurts... you...? That's correct, class. Time-Turners now cause pain and have duration limitations. Why? Because why not?

We've gone from "the events are already written, you cannot change the outcome" to "let's create alternate universes in five-minute chunks, as long as we can accept the physical pain of doing so".

Who would be so arrogant to think that they could just change the rules of an existing franchise in order to fit their new narrative? His first name rhymes with "hack".

Semi-Conclusion

Time-Turners cannot change the past. They only fulfill it. That's what we were taught from the books. However, JKR says that the way magic is presented in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child should be considered canon. THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. It means that our favorite characters now live in a world where Time-Turners cannot change the past - and yet they can. Okay! Why are you looking at us like that? Why the confusion?

. . . uh-huh

You would think that someone might have caught this one a bit earlier. Oh, what was that? The article on Pottermore that described time travel was yanked off the site just before the release of the play because... oops it refuted canon? What is actually happening here? Is it possible that JKR actually forgot the laws of her own world? I know it's sacrilege to suggest such a thing, but I think we might have proof.

JKR's Thoughts On Time-Turners

In July of 2013, fourteen years after the publication of Book 3, something new popped up in the Prisoner of Azkaban section on Pottermore called J.K. Rowling's Thoughts. Here, she discussed her use of time travel as a plot device.

"I went far too light-heartedly into the subject of time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While I do not regret it (Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite books in the series), it opened up a vast number of problems for me, because after all, if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots? I solved the problem to my own satisfaction in stages. Firstly, I had Dumbledore and Hermione emphasize how dangerous it would be to be seen in the past, to remind the reader that there might be unforeseen and dangerous consequences as well as solutions in time travel. Secondly, I had Hermione give back the only Time-Turner ever to enter Hogwarts. Thirdly, I smashed all remaining Time-Turners during the battle in the Department of Mysteries, removing the possibility of reliving even short periods in the future. This is just one example of the ways in which, when writing fantasy novels, one must be careful what one invents. For every benefit, there is usually a drawback."

Did you catch that?

"...it opened up a vast number of problems for me, because after all, if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots?"

She... She did forget? Really? Utterly shocking. This is another example of how the people close to J.K. Rowling failed her. It's not easy to keep all that information in one head. After time, one could get confused. That, or this is another example of why there needs to be a "keeper of the canon" figure in the franchise to monitor the finest details and established rules of the world. They would make notes about Pottermore content and correct her. They would do a single pass on a draft of the play and explain that Jack Thorne is borrowing his theory of time travel from sources other than the sandbox in which he had been given permission to play.

CONCLUSION

From Cursed Child: ACT ONE, SCENE FIVE

HERMIONE: Well, now we have it.

HARRY: And you're sure you want to keep it?

HERMIONE: I don't think we've a choice. Look at it. It's entirely different to the Time-Turner I had.

HARRY (dry): Apparently, wizardry has moved on since we were kids.

YOU DON'T SAY, HARRY?????

Once a Möbius twist of chronological genius, time travel in the wizarding world has been demoted to an amateurish appendage with the complexity of a mystery book written for toddlers. Honestly, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure had more logic to their time travel. And that was an intentionally far-fetched, self-deprecating comedy about two idiots destined to be rock gods who save the world through "excellence". Cursed Child continues to take itself seriously.

Not only did they ruin something that was already unique and beautifully tangled, but they changed the WHOLE POINT of time travel - that you cannot affect the past, because if you are there... you were always meant to be there.

With that Pottermore quote as evidence, we can assume it's highly probable that JKR has forgotten the very laws of time travel that she established in Prisoner of Azkaban. This led to her overlooking such an egregious example of canon inconsistency in Cursed Child. Honestly, I think this was all done for the finale of the play, for the sake of putting Harry in a position where he has to admit that Voldemort must kill his parents. That he is bound to stand there and listen to it, knowing that he cannot allow the past to be altered by his interference.

Thorne: There won't be a dry eye in the house! Haha.

Audience: Wait! He could stop Voldemort right now! Of course, he could! Go, Harry! Save them! But, no... he can't... then that would affect the present! Oh, poor Harry has to sit idly by and watch them get killed!! WAAAAHHHAAAAA.

Thorne: Take that, theatre-goers! I can make you cry!! I'm AN AMAZING WRITER!!

Me (shaking my head at JKR): Manipulating your fans into crying was SO important that you allowed Jack Thorne to abandon the rules of time travel that you, yourself, set up?! I kind of hate you right now (No, I don't. I love you!) This is tearing me apart, Lisa! You might as well put the golden trio in a Saw movie while you're at it...

My revision notes (this is not what will happen in the fan edit btw):

You wanna handle it properly? Fine. Here goes. We know that the Fidelius Charm in the past shouldn't work on Harry, even Adult Harry, because the magic was protecting both him and his parents. So, have Harry run into the house, just as Voldemort is about to kill his dad! It's too hard for Harry to stand by, even though he knows that the events of the past are unalterable. The others can't stop him, no matter how hard they try. Harry barges in, wand drawn, and immediately notices his father.

"Dad..."

James is surprised by seeing someone who looks just like him, calling him "Dad", and that's what distracts him long enough that he fails to defend himself against Voldemort and dies. Harry is so stunned by what he's done that he, too, is slow to act. Voldemort is perplexed by the man who followed him into the Potter's home and kills him as well WITHOUT REALIZING THAT IT'S HARRY AS AN ADULT.

Avada Kedavra... Harry's body falls to the ground... Silence...

Yes! Harry is able to die because he is in the past and his mother's sacrificial magic has not yet had the power to protect him from Voldemort, thus fulfilling the prophecy!

...either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.

Voldemort goes upstairs, Lily sacrifices herself. Young Harry is the Boy Who Lived.

The play ends with the Fidelius Charm fading and the people from the future entering the house to discover what had happened. Ginny is ruined, Ron and Hermione console baby Harry in shock, Scorpius consoles Albus, who is partly responsible for his father dying. Draco helps to remove Harry's body before anyone comes and, together, they leave. After returning to the present, they use magic to bury him in the graveyard of St Jerome's Church.

That could have been the conclusion to this abysmal play. Harry dies in the end, KILLED BY THE EARLIER VERSION OF LORD VOLDEMORT.

See? Finale. The 8th story. Fixed, consistent time travel that is both self-fulfilling and badass, while giving a second, complex meaning to existing plotlines. I'm very proud of this idea. I would have loved to read this.

But no, they had to regurgitate the plot of Back to the Future 2...